Essex Financial Services Inc. Has $6.95 Million Stake in AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

Essex Financial Services Inc. decreased its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 37,466 shares of the company’s stock after selling 263 shares during the quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $6,954,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Hawaiian Bank grew its position in AbbVie by 0.8% during the second quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 7,556 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,403,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Narus Financial Partners LLC grew its position in AbbVie by 25.3% during the first quarter. Narus Financial Partners LLC now owns 1,988 shares of the company’s stock worth $417,000 after buying an additional 401 shares in the last quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC grew its position in AbbVie by 6.3% during the first quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 46,853 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,817,000 after buying an additional 2,792 shares in the last quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC grew its position in AbbVie by 3.9% during the first quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC now owns 8,240 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,727,000 after buying an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. Finally, North Star Asset Management Inc. grew its position in AbbVie by 0.5% during the first quarter. North Star Asset Management Inc. now owns 161,320 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,800,000 after buying an additional 756 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In related news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 42,370 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.42, for a total value of $8,407,055.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 177,292 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,178,278.64. The trade was a 19.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 13,295 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.51, for a total value of $2,639,190.45. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 58,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,562,611.97. The trade was a 18.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on ABBV. Guggenheim upped their target price on AbbVie from $216.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Daiwa America upgraded AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on AbbVie from $207.00 to $222.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on AbbVie from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 12th. Finally, Berenberg Bank upgraded AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $170.00 to $270.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $223.45.

AbbVie Stock Performance

ABBV stock opened at $220.11 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $205.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $195.21. AbbVie Inc. has a 1-year low of $163.81 and a 1-year high of $225.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14. The firm has a market cap of $388.84 billion, a PE ratio of 104.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.53.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $2.97 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.24 by ($0.27). AbbVie had a return on equity of 699.66% and a net margin of 6.45%.The business had revenue of $15.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.93 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.65 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 15th will be given a $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 15th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is presently 312.38%.

AbbVie Profile

AbbVie Inc discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells pharmaceuticals worldwide. The company offers Humira, an injection for autoimmune and intestinal Behçet's diseases, and pyoderma gangrenosum; Skyrizi to treat moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, psoriatic disease, and Crohn's disease; Rinvoq to treat rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, atopic dermatitis, axial spondyloarthropathy, ulcerative colitis, and Crohn's disease; Imbruvica for the treatment of adult patients with blood cancers; Epkinly to treat lymphoma; Elahere to treat cancer; and Venclexta/Venclyxto to treat blood cancers.